Tell me it gets better!

[sparklysnowflake]

We bought our first house in the middle of August. I was SO excited, because I loved this house - despite it clearly needing a bit of tlc it was large, and with a lick of paint and a bit of wallpaper we could see it would be lovely.

Fast forward two months, we have now had a gas leak, found live electrical wires behind a picture that the previous tenants had left up, had a leak from the boiler, found out the central heating didn't work properly, found a leak under the sink, had a leak from under the bathtub (twice), and then finally today noticed that water was leaking from the moulding by the ceiling. We thought the leak was back from under the bath, but seems more likely (after realising we've been hearing a dripping noise all week and some crap came tumbling down the chimney yesterday) that the chimney is letting water in. Closer examination revealed that our beautiful wallpaper is now peeling, when you pull it away it's absolutely soaked through. Entire wall is damp to the touch and lounge now smells strongly of damp plaster. We think entire wall will need redoing when it dries out and just don't even know where to begin - we are so out of our comfort zone. Other half rang insurance company and they were going to send a roofer out - who never materialised!!

This home owning thing gets better, right? Thought we would avoid all this by getting a home buyer's survey, but honestly wish we hadn't forked out that £400 now!!!

Please tell me we're not the only ones to have a disastrous first two months?!?!

nightmare!

surveyor won't have checked boiler or electrics and they don't move anything. But unless that leak is brand new they should have spotted it. That said, best of luck getting a comeback from a surveyor as their organisation is completely toothless. I know, I tried.

raise a complaint with the insurers and get the immediate issue sorted - because you had a survey, you are covered. Look on the RICS website to see how to raise a complaint against a surveyor.

Surveyors have indemnity insurance for exactly this reason. If they missed something thatbthey should have picked up, you should have recourse. My friend threatened to sue her surveyor when her kitchen ceiling fell in and he paid up.

Although as special sad- there's plenty that is not in the scope of your survey.

You poor thing OP. We have had 6 months of misery with our new house, I near there is light at the end of the tunnel.

All the best

Commiserations OP that's a horrible start to your relationship with your new house. We are trying to decide now whether to bother with a Homebuyers survey and rather just keep the money for repairs/redecoration. No matter what, our seller will not reduce the price and we can't see any obvious signs of anything serious. And seems like the £500 survey only covers things that are pretty obvious.
The survey on the house we are selling failed to tell us the garage leaked like a sieve!

I think you have to have a survey in case of the big one, subsidence - even if the 'expert' misses it you should be fine on the insurance.

BTW some very expensive surveys here - shop around if you are not tied in.

I feel your pain OP - we have just moved and had two leaks under the kitchen sink, one leaking cold water inlet on the boiler and having removed wallpaper in one bedroom we also have a wet wall and a poorly capped chimney letting in water! And our survey cost double yours! Honestly though - we haven't called the insurance as presumed wouldn't be covered. Are we wrong not to?

Aww, thank you all for the sympathy - was feeling quite pathetic yesterday and needed a good moan about it all! Glad (in an awful way) to hear it's not just us that has had a few disasters!!

Insurance company finally sent out a roofer who thinks the chimney needs repointing - however other half's father thinks it's so much water that it could be a leak. Builder was meant to come round tonight, but is coming tomorrow instead. Gah!!

Interesting you guys mentioned trying to pursue a claim through the surveyor. We'll see what the builder thinks is causing it - if it's something they should have picked up at survey then we'll definitely look into it. My feeling is that it's a new problem though as we decorated in August shortly after getting the keys (during a particularly rainy few days) and the walls were all bone dry with no signs of leaks or water damage.

Planning to give the kitchen a face-lift next week so hopefully that will take my mind off the lounge chaos... Also we are picking up our kitten tomorrow (couldn't have a cat in rented) so I've decided homeowning isn't all bad!!!

Horten - we called insurance purely because we couldn't get hold of other half's father for advice, and just didn't know who to call (roofer, builder, plumber?!) or what to do but have since learnt that if its all due to the chimney, the repair will be counted as wear and tear and our responsibility, but if there is damage to the property and it needs replastering, redecorating etc we can claim that on insurance. Once we've worked out the extent then we might end up making a claim, especially if room needs replastering.

Good to know - may give the insurance company a call then. Think we will need to replaster at the very least. Hold tight though - it does get better eventually!